They may have King Kenny, but would Liverpool want an elected mayor?

Liverpool, the immensely wealthy "second city of the Empire," has more Georgian buildings than Bath. Some of its historic grandeur has revived with the successful regeneration of the dockside and city centre, and the dysfunctional Derek Hatton Eighties are ancient history. Yet in the past 50 years the city's population has nearly halved. With 40 per cent of its jobs in the public sector and the 8th highest unemployment rate in the country, its future is precarious unless it attracts far more businesses, and develops the skills and infrastructure to support them.

Liverpool Democracy Commission

A decade ago the Liverpool Democracy Commission, including David Alton and Bishop of Liverpool James Jones, recommended an elected mayor to "help transform the city’s image and external profile" and its "sustained failure of leadership". The city’s local politicians – and there are a lot of them, with 90 members of the city council – ignored the report. Both Labour’s Joe Anderson, Leader of the Council, and Warren Bradley, Lib Dem leader, will campaign against a Mayor in next May’s referendum. Of the political parties on the council, only the Greens support the proposal. The city’s business and voluntary sectors are ambivalent. Jon Tonge, professor of politics at Liverpool university, says it all depends who is Mayor. “Liverpool needs a stronger national and international profile, but it certainly doesn’t need a return to strident ‘boss politics’”.

The mayor for Liverpool campaign

There is nonetheless a vocal campaign for a Mayor. Liam Fogarty, Director of 'A Mayor of Liverpool' and former director of the city’s BBC radio station, says the city is "only ever a headline away from the next crisis," pointing to the recent fiasco over the proposed new stadium for Everton, where Liverpool and neighbouring Knowsley council could not agree on this vital project, which then collapsed. He argues an elected Mayor, with a popular mandate and a plan for the future, could overcome "the infighting and incompetence, low election turnouts and low expectations" which bedevil the city.

The Merseyside question

Nor are political leaders as united against a Mayor as it first appears. They all support stronger strategic partnerships across Merseyside to promote economic regeneration and transport and infrastructure planning. More than 90 per cent of Merseyside’s population live and work in the region, which by geography and transport is largely self-contained. If a Mayor for Merseyside were on offer, with strategic powers and control of policing, there would be more support. Jack Stopforth, chief executive of the chamber of commerce, views the abolition of Merseyside county council in the 1980s as a big mistake. The question is whether a Mayor of Liverpool would promote the region as well as the city, and whether this could be a step on the way to the creation of a city-region authority as in Greater London. But don’t dare say that Liverpool could have something to learn from Boris and London. I made that mistake in one interview. Immediate outrage. Never again.